Eindhoven, the Netherlands – Signify (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, today announces that its robust financial performance in 2020 enables the company to return contributions to employees who participated in the 2020 solidarity program. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a vast majority of Signify’s global employees voluntarily supported a 20% worktime reduction and a pro-rata pay adjustment over April-June 2020.
Furthermore, Signify proposes to declare an extraordinary dividend of EUR 170 million (EUR 1.35 per share) to its shareholders. The amount is in line with the dividend proposal of EUR 1.35 for 2019, which was withdrawn to ensure the company’s resilience and to strengthen its financial position during the COVID-19 crisis. This extraordinary dividend will be in addition to the regular dividend for 2020, which will be announced along with its full-year results 2020 on January 29, 2021. Both dividend proposals will be subject to approval at the AGM to be held on May 18, 2021.
Signify also announces its intention to repay a minimum of EUR 350 million of debt in 2021, thereby confirming its commitment to further deleverage to a net debt/EBITDA ratio of less than 1x by the end of 2022. Signify expects to report a year-end 2020 net debt/EBITDA ratio of 1.7x.
Based on preliminary and unaudited figures, Signify expects a full year 2020 comparable sales growth of approx. -12.7%. In addition, Signify expects an adjusted EBITA margin of approx. 10.7%, up 30 bps vs. 2019. This includes the cost of the repayment to its employees who participated in the 2020 solidarity program. Signify also expects a full-year 2020 free cash flow of approx. EUR 815 million, mainly driven by continued strong working capital discipline.
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